With the pending elimination of the personal property tax, Raisin Township officials are looking at the police and fire departments to determine the most efficient method of operation.

“Eliminating the tax is helping business, but township and municipal government will bear the brunt,” said township supervisor Jay Cavanaugh. “This is a very difficult time. This is the beginning of the discussion. It will be a very detailed and long process.”

At Monday’s township board meeting, Fire Chief Rick Renard and Police Chief Scott Lambka presented detailed reports on their findings. The two have spent the past several weeks delving into their department operations and have concluded a reorganization may be necessary.

“We are not proposing putting on an added millage,” Renard said. “Scott and myself sat down to determine what the service is providing statutorily safely without having to cut. Our previous recommendation (was) to eliminate a full-time chief. To keep the full staff going, we would have to cut at the top.”

Lambka said a possible concept is cross-training officers to be firefighters and emergency medical personnel as well as police officers. He said a full consolidation of the departments would be extremely expensive, though.

Combining the two chief positions into a public safety administrator is a possibility, Lambka said. After Raisin became a charter township, statutes stipulated a police department was required, and the township formed one with Renard as the public safety administrator. Lambka, who had been a public safety officer for the township, was appointed police chief in 2005 when the departments were separated.

“We are looking at where we can cut and if we are working efficiently,” he said. “We have talked with our officers, and our guys have said they will do whatever they have to do.”

Trustee Larry Crittenden said he is concerned about shortfalls in the budget for both public safety and roads. The township has had problems with road budgets and other increasing costs, he said. Crittenden said an increase in millage may have to be considered.

“I don’t like to pay more taxes, but the roads in this township need work,” he said. “We can levy up to 5 mills without a (public) vote. I’m not proposing that, but we should talk about it.”

The township currently levies just over 3.4 mills, Crittenden said.

“There are a lot of things we need to look at,” Cavanaugh said.

Cavanaugh said once the township’s website is running again, a survey will be loaded for township residents to give input, but that is several months away. The board approved a contract with Artonic on Monday to build the new township website.